Americas Energy and Climate Symposium
Encyclopedia
Americas Energy and Climate Symposium is the first major energy event after the Summit of the Americas
in April 2009, where U.S. President Barack Obama
announced the formation of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas
(ECPA). ECPA is a voluntary and flexible framework for advancing energy security
and combating climate change
. The president invited all Western Hemisphere countries to be part of a united effort under the ECPA, and since then, the regional response has been overwhelmingly positive across the elements of the ECPA: energy efficiency
, renewable energy
, critical infrastructure, and energy development
and solidarity to help alleviate poverty.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy are the major focus for the Americas Energy and Climate Symposium. The first Americas Energy and Climate Symposium took place on June 15 and 16 2009 and was hosted by the Government of Peru.
announced a Low Carbon Communities Program, which will assist countries in developing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs that will reduce the carbon footprint
of their urban communities. Through the initiative, USDOE will partner with participating countries to develop building energy standards and to adopt modern urban planning strategies, including transit-oriented development
. DOE will provide technical assistance and limited funding to help achieve those goals.
.
Summit of the Americas
The Summits of the Americas is a series of international summit meetings bringing together the leaders of countries in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Neither the elderly leader nor a representative from Cuba participated in this summit...
in April 2009, where U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
announced the formation of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas
Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas
The Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas was announced by U.S. President Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas in April 2009. The ECPA is conceived as a flexible mechanism to accelerate sustainable energy in the Americas...
(ECPA). ECPA is a voluntary and flexible framework for advancing energy security
Energy security
Energy security is a term for an association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led...
and combating climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. The president invited all Western Hemisphere countries to be part of a united effort under the ECPA, and since then, the regional response has been overwhelmingly positive across the elements of the ECPA: energy efficiency
Efficient energy use
Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal of efforts to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a home allows a building to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature...
, renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
, critical infrastructure, and energy development
Energy development
Energy development is the effort to provide sufficient primary energy sources and secondary energy forms for supply, cost, impact on air pollution and water pollution, mitigation of climate change with renewable energy....
and solidarity to help alleviate poverty.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy are the major focus for the Americas Energy and Climate Symposium. The first Americas Energy and Climate Symposium took place on June 15 and 16 2009 and was hosted by the Government of Peru.
Low Carbon Communities Program
At the symposium, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven ChuSteven Chu
Steven Chu is an American physicist and the 12th United States Secretary of Energy. Chu is known for his research at Bell Labs in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and...
announced a Low Carbon Communities Program, which will assist countries in developing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs that will reduce the carbon footprint
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
of their urban communities. Through the initiative, USDOE will partner with participating countries to develop building energy standards and to adopt modern urban planning strategies, including transit-oriented development
Transit-oriented development
A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...
. DOE will provide technical assistance and limited funding to help achieve those goals.
Regional centers
Energy leaders also announced the development of a Regional Energy Efficiency Center, supported by Peru, and a Regional Wind Center, supported by MéxicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
See also
- SustainabilitySustainabilitySustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
- IRENAIrena-Other languages:*Irene in English*Irène in French*Eirini or Irini in Greek-People:*Irena Degutienė, Prime Minister in Lithuania*Irena Fleissnerová , Czech breaststroke swimmer...
- Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate
- Plug-in hybrid